1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a method that utilizes the spectrum scan capability of mobile phones to scan for competitors' and domestic roaming partners' networks in order to obtain the performance information regarding to the competitors' and domestic roaming partners' networks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile operators are interested in learning how other nearby mobile networks, such as competitors' and domestic roaming partners' networks, perform compared to their own network. Currently, operators collect competitors' networks performance information by conducting drive tests, which requires SIM/USIM cards or subscriptions from each competitor. This method is hard to scale up both temporally and spatially. This patent proposes an apparatus and method to offer a solution for mobile operators and users to achieve this goal and this method and apparatus can apply to different generation of mobile network, including GSM/GPRS/EDGE, CDMA 2000/EVDO, UMTS/HSPA, WiMax, LTE, LTE-A, and so on.